Suction nozzle with automatically retractable surface-contacting element



July 13, 1943. f'

e. vmassa A 2,324,111 SUCTION NOZZLE WITH AUTOIATIGIALLY RETRACTABLE 1 SURFACE-commune ELEHENT Pupa Felb.. 25. 1941 Patented July 13, 1943 SUCTION NOZZLE WITH AUTOMATICALLY RETRACTABLE SURFACE CONTACTING ELEMENT Y Adrian E. Rosa-Stamford, Conn., assigner to Eleotrolux Corporation, Dover, Del., a corporation of Delaware Application February 25, 1941,*Serial No. 380,490

' 7 Claims. (Cl. 15158) My invention relates to suction nozzles and more particularly to a nozzle of this type which is especially well adapted to cleaning close to a baseboard or the like.

In accordance with my invention, I provide surface-contacting elements, such as brush bristles, depending fromthe nozzle around the suction opening thereof. One of these elements, preferably the one depending from the forward .lip .of the nozzle, is supported so as to be movable to wards and away from the surface being cleaned, and means are provided extending from the front of the nozzle which are adapted, upon contact with a baseboard or the like, to lift the brush from the surface. This permits air to rush underneath the forward lip of the nozzle, thus effectively removing dirt from the surface which is immediately adjacent to the baseboard. Resilient means are provided for normally holding ,ther

Further objects and advantages of my invern.

tion will be apparent from the following description considered in connection withthe accompanying drawing, which forms a part of this specification and of which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of the nozzle in accordance with my invention;

Fis. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; .and

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on the lines 3-3 of Figs. 1 and 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, reference character I designates generally a hollow nozzle body which includes a front wall il, a rear wall l2, and end walls I3'which bound an elongated suction opening. The body I0 is formed with a hollow connector H to which may be attached a hollow handle or the like for connecting the interior of the body to a source of suction.

il strip of material l5 which carries a row of bristles it is suitably secured on the inner side of rear wall i2 by means of rivets il or the like. The strip ib is so located that the bristles depend below the suction opening along the side thereof which is bounded by the rear wall it. Similar strips it; are secured within the end walls and have bristles le depending below the suetion'opening.

The forward wall il of the nozzle is formed with a pair of inclined slots i@ which are adapted to slldably receive ping 2li. These pins are hired to upwardly extending ears 2i formed on a strip tened towards the wall.

A flat spring member 24 is secured at one end, as by the bolt 25, to the outside of the forward wall Il and is so shaped as to be bowed outwardly from the wall. Spring 24 extends through a diagonal slot 26 formed in the forward-Welland is riveted or otherwise suitably fastened at 21 to the strip 22. The strip is formed with a recess 28 to accommodate this end of the spring between the strip and the inside of the forward wall Il.

The shape of spring 24 is such that the tension thereof tends to move the strip 22 to the left, as viewed in Fig. 1, s0 as to move the pins 20 to the lower ends of the slots I9. In this position the bristles 23 carried by the strip 22 extend bellow the opening of the nozzle the same distance as do the bristles i6 which are carried by the permanently xed strips l5 and I8. However, if the nozzle is moved up against a baseboard or the like, the spring 24 which extends forwardly from the wall Il, contacts the baseboard and is fiat- Inasmuch as one end of the spring is secured to the nozzle body by the bolt 25, flattening of the spring results in the other end being moved to the right, as viewed in Fig. 1. This causes strip 22 to move in the same direction, with the result that the pins 20 slide upwardly in the inclined slots I9, thusI retracting the strip 22 and the bristles 2.3 carried thereby. The vertical dimension of the slot 28 is suflicient to permit the portion of the spring which passes therethrough to be raised along with the strip 22. v

Raising of the strip and the bristles causes the I ow of air into the nozzle to be concentrated unof material 22 which carries brush bristles 23. 55

r demeath the forward wall I l, inasmuch as this is the path of least resistance, and this ilow of air is able to pick up dust and dirt lying close up to the baseboard. When the bristles 23 are lifted from the surface, the nozzle body rests on the bristles I6 at the rear and ends of the opening, which prevent 'tilting of the nozzle.

When the nozzle is moved away from the baseboard, spring 2d returns to its former position,

thus moving strip 2E to the left, as viewed in Fig.

While I have shown and described one more or less specic embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that this has been done for purposes of illustration only, and the scope of my invention is not t0 be limited thereto, but is to be determined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a suction nozzle for cleaning a surface, a hollow body formed with a suction opening, a surface-contacting element movably carried by said body and normally depending therefrom along one side of said opening, means for guiding movement of said element in a direction having at least a component perpendicular to said surface, second means for moving said element away from said surface projecting forwardly in a horizontal direction from the exterior of said body and displaceable relative thereto in a horizontal direction by movement of the nozzle so as to bring said second means into engagement with a relatively iixed object extending above said surface, and third means acting upon release of said second means to move said element to its former position.

2. In a suction nozzle for cleaning a surface, a

hollow body having front, rear and end walls bounding a suction opening, surface-contacting elements fixed to said rear wall and depending therefrom, surface contacting elements carried by said front and end walls two of which elements are fixed and one of which is movable with respect to the particular wall that carries it and normally depends therefrom substantially the same distance as the fixed elements, means for guiding movement of the movable element in a direction having at least a component perpendicular to said surface, second means for moving said element away from said surface projecting horizontally from the exterior of said particular wall and displaceable in a horizontal direction relative thereto by contact with a relatively fixed v object extending above said surface, and third means acting upon release of said second means to move said element to its former position.

3. In'a suction nozzle for cleaning a surface, a hollow body formed with a suction opening, a surface-contacting element movably carried by said body and normally depending therefrom along one side of said opening, means for guiding movement of said element in a direction having at least a component perpendicular to said surface, and a spring secured at one end to said body and at the other end to said element and projecting outwardly from said body, said spring normally urging said element towards said surface and being deformable towards said body for movinig said element away from said surface.

4. In a suction nozzle for cleaning a surface, a hollow body formed with a suction opening, a surface-contacting element, means including a pin working in an inclined slot for movably securing said element to said body whereby displacement of said element relative to said body in a direction parallel to said surface moves said element away from said surface, means projecting forwardly in a horizontal direction from the exterior of said body and movable towards said body for displacing said element parallel to said surface and means acting upon release of said projecting means for moving said element towards its former position.

5. In a suction nozzle for cleaning a surface, a hollow body formed with a suction opening, a surface-contacting element, a pin secured to said element and extending through an inclined slot formed in said body, and spring means connected to said element and projecting from the exterior of said body and movable towards said body to cause said pin' to slide upwardly in said inclined slot, said spring means biasing said pin toward the bottom of the slot.

6. In a suction nozzle for cleaning a surface, a. hollow body having a substantially vertical front wall bounding one side of a suction opening, said wall being formed with an inclined slot, a surfacecontacting element, a pin secured to said element and extending through said slot for movably -securing saidelement to said wall, and a resilient member secured at one end to said body and at the other end to said element and being bowed outwardly from said wall, whereby flattening of said member towards said wall causes displacement of said pin in said slot so as to move said element away from said surface.

7. In a suction nozzle for cleaning a surface, a hollow body having a substantially vertical front wall bounding one side of a suction opening, said wall being formed with an inclined slot, a surfacecontacting element, a pin secured to said element and extending through said slot for movably securing said element to said wall, and a spring member having one end secured to said body and the other end secured to said element and being bowed outwardly from said wall, said spring member being so tensioned as to normally retain said pin at the lower end of said inclined slot and being deformable towards said wall to displace saidpin to the upper end of the slot to thereby move said element away from said surface.

ADRIAN E. ROSS. 

